The tenth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists introduces us to the Gangoli family - first generation Indian immigrants to America. Familiar faces Irrfan Khan and Tabu play the parents, but the big marketing angle was Kal Penn’s dramatic turn as their son, he of the multiple names throughout the movie. THE NAMESAKE, based on a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, directed by Mira Nair, was certainly an important step in Penn branching out from his Harold and Kumar persona, but it’s also a gentle, heartfelt portrayal of what it’s like to have two homelands.

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have any recommendations for future entries in the series, let us know!

How much sleaziness is too much sleaziness? Is Elmore Leonard’s 52 PICK-UP as nasty as its John Frankenheimer adaptation? Does the movie deserve its somewhat forgotten status in the director’s filmography, or should we all push for a 52 PICK-UP re-evaluation? This and more in this Real Talk segment - including a roll call of all the adult performers in the infamous party sequence!

The second chapter of B2B - Bedroom to Box Office - brings us a gaggle of porn stars smack dab in the middle of a mean, nasty, supremely entertaining John Frankenheimer joint. Sadly, 52 PICK-UP was too sleazy for critics and not even the Elmore Leonard connection or having Roy Scheider as its star saved it from a rotten Tomatometer score. Listen to Alex & Julio as they welcome the man behind Reindeer Games back to the show with another banger!

The real surprise when it comes to RABID is that Cronenberg meant it to be about the dangers of mishandling an epidemic. As much as we can all relate to that, it can be difficult to connect to that theme when it’s carried by a movie that plays like a parody of the director’s body-horror obsessions. But how does Marilyn Chambers do, regardless of the film’s shortcomings? Listen to this Real Talk segment and find out!

Our Bedroom to Box Office Summer Event begins with David Cronenberg’s sophomore effort, RABID - a horror ditty starring iconic adult movie star Marilyn Chambers. The concept of patient zero using an armpit-stinger to infect other people must have blown critics’ minds back in the 70s, leading to a fresh 78% Tomatometer score. To us? It’s basic, uninspired Cronenberg. Listen to Alex & Julio as they analyze this awkward takedown of plastic surgery culture!

As the long-awaited(?) Ronda Rousey Vs. Gina Carano fight looms, Julio and Alex are, once again, joined by Joe and STEVE(!) to reflect on a fighter crossing over to film.

As the four travel back to 2012 for Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, the conversation takes some wild, and some very expected, turns.

The perfect appetizer for Saturday's Netflix MMA event is here. Grab a drink and join the boys for an (semi)action-packed jaunt!

The ninth installment of Fresh Immigrants, Rotten Fascists features a presidential sex scandal, and the (fake) war the White House creates to distract from it. WAG THE DOG could have been written yesterday! Although you could argue Robert DeNiro, Anne Heche, and Dustin Hoffman are waaaaaay more competent than the crooks we get in the real world…

Thank you for checking this new project out, whether you are a long-time Contrarians fan or someone who’s just trying to listen to people talking positively about immigrants and negatively about fascism. If you have any recommendations for future entries in the series, let us know!

It’s hard to think anyone could argue against the cast of this DENNIS THE MENACE adaptation. It’s not just Matthau, Thompson, and Christopher Lloyd doing solid work, but also Mason Gamble as Dennis, holding his own against them. And it’s directed by Nick Castle, the original Michael Myers? We can all agree it’s an artifact of interest at least. But is it a good movie too, or does it only work if you let nostalgia for the 90s (and perhaps your own childhood) overwhelm you?

We’ve been around our fair share of children and we can assure you, there is far worse than poor Dennis out there. That’s not to say that DENNIS THE MENACE doesn’t work as a brutal takedown of bad parenting and the crux carried by the community that has to deal with a spoiled kid. With a 28% on the Tomatometer, this Walter Matthau vehicle (no, he doesn’t play Dennis) is screaming for a Contrarians defense! So listen to Alex & Julio as they celebrate the return of Lea Thompson to the show and commiserate for the unfairly reviled Mr. Wilson.

Like Westerns and Musicals, Romantic Comedies keep being pronounced dead and then fighting their way back into relevance. RYE LANE is certainly a strong effort to revive the genre, even if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel the way some of the critical acclaim proclaims. Does it matter if you have a good time? And can you have a good time if you are very much over some of the tropes the movie embraces? Let’s find out in this Real Talk segment!